J1A3L5 wrote:Hi Emperor James,
At Brickfest we were fortunate enough to have Bjarke, an expert on LEGO molding processes, quality control & manufacturing practices, talk to us. Both Ben and Bluesecrets echo the same ideas that he presented us. There are a lot of factors involved with the price of making parts, aside from the actual materials involved.
Each piece has it's own unique molding characteristics such as sprue location, cooling times, weak areas, and more. Circular objects and objects where the plastic wraps around and two "fronts" of plastic encounter each other have to be carefully controlled, since they weaken the plastic considerably.
Minifigures are very complex shapes with exacting tolerances, probably even more so than regular bricks. If built at all too tight or loose the joints won't turn properly or won't stand up to extensive play. As it is, minifigures loosen over time - I'm sure none of us would be happy if they lasted even shorter periods of time.
You suggested that minifigures should be cheap because they're made in such quantity - This is true to some extent, but is also untrue. Large quantities lead to lower costs, but there are now so many varieties of minifigures that quantities are much lower than they used to be. Back when minifigures were almost all classic smilies, they made huge amounts with a single mold and single printing machine.
Any given figure is made up of a minimum of 10 individual pieces. With the generic 10 cents per part pricetag, that's $1.00 a figure. Considering that minifigures are far more complex and demanding (molding shapes, tolerances, printing, variety, assembly etc.) than the average LEGO element, it's obvious that they will cost somewhat more to produce. The 5 torso pieces and the 3 leg pieces also come pre-assembled, adding to costs that normal LEGO elements don't have.
You don't seem to understand all the factors involved with making LEGO elements, in my opinion. There's many I haven't even mentioned - Some colours are more expensive to make than others. Some molds cost more than others because they're intended for longer periods of use...and much more.
LEGO could probably produce cheaper figures if they wanted to, but they'd almost certainly be of a much lower quality. I'm definitely willing to pay a little more for a quality we've come to expect from LEGO.
-John L.
what i dont think you sea is how much of the price you pay for them in a set is retailer markup. yes theres a lot of cost in making a figure, but it cant be more than 50 cents, probably much less. sold only through the online store in quantities >50 or so, they could do it and make a profit, except that few people would actually buy them. the problem isnt the cost involved, its the limited number of people who would actually buy them in those quantities.
anyway i am willing to pay $2 for a figure, but theres not even a way to buy them for that now. for a while on the lego store the battle at the pass set was $20 for 10 figs plus the rest of the set but they sold out fast.